The new HP-sponsored 2012 Cost of Cyber Crime report conducted by the Ponemon Institute examined some 56 companies across industry verticals to get a picture of the impact and costs of cybercrime. It found the average annualized cost of cyber crime was $8.9 million, a 6 percent increase over the figure reported for 2011.
More Attacks, and Stealthier
Companies across the survey base experienced 102 successful attacks a week, on average, a dramatic rise from the 72 attacks per week companies experienced in 2011.
“It seems like the frequency of attacks across all categories is increasing,” Ponemon told eSecurity Planet. “There is also some evidence that shows that attacks have become stealthier and more sophisticated.”
Stealthier attacks have led to longer remediation times. The study found it now takes 24 days to completely contain a cyber attack, on average, up from 18 days in 2011.
Types of attacks experienced in 2012 include both theft of information attacks and business disruption. In Ponemon’s view, the 2012 Cost of Cyber Crime data shows that data theft is more costly to companies than business disruption attacks. Data theft costs accounted for 44 percent of external costs related to cyber crime in 2012, up by 4 percent from 2011.
Read the full story at eSecurity Planet:
Cyber Crime: Is Cost Going Up?
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.